Just like my pregnancy, 1 month has flown by and crawled by at the same time! This past month has been a real adjustment for us.
Luckily my post-partum baby blues (that no one warned me about!!) have subsided and I am back to semi-normal. I don't think I will be normal until I am able to sleep at night. I am able to eat again and I am not sad or crying all the time! However, the lack of sleep has been the hardest thing for us.
We have been and were told by most people that we would adjust to life without sleep. Well, Dan and I are sleepers and our bodies require sleep. We are not really adjusting and I don't think I ever will. But, I know Nathan has to sleep through the night at some point, so I am holding on to that for comfort!! It is hard, especially for Dan, as he is training for cycling season to begin, to put in a difficult workout and then to be able to recover with sleep.
Nathan has been doing pretty good at night, he usually will go back to sleep after his feedings, or need a little rocking, so I know it could be worse!!
We decided to give up on the nursing. I tried everything from Fenu-greek, Reglan, drinking tons of water, eating more, pumping, nursing frequently and nothing brought in my milk supply. I only make 1 ounce in a 3 hour period, which is no where near enough for Nathan to thrive. We had been going through a rigorous routine of me nursing 15 minutes each side, Dan supplementing with a bottle and me pumping for 15 minutes then cleaning all the pumping pieces. It is very taxing on us as the whole process takes about an hour and we repeat it every 3, that only gives us about 2 hours or less between feedings. It is really rough at 2 am ! My OB and the lactation consult both said I gave it my best shot and for sanity's sake I should call it quits. That made me feel better about my decision. I really liked nursing and wish I could nurse exclusively, but I know I tried everything (except domperidone which is not approved by the FDA in this country).
All that to say, I think now that we are going to bottle only, life will get a little easier for us. We can take turns at night feeding him and the whole process will take 15 minutes as opposed to 1 hour. Plus I will not be tied to the house as much either! I hate being cooped up.
Nathan has been growing by leaps and bounds everyday! He is more awake during the day time and seems to be interactive at times. He is a morning person like us! After his morning feeding he is so attentive and looks around and doesn't fuss. He has been trying to smile (or so I think) but he's not there yet! I am looking forward to him smiling and interacting even more! Right now he is more like a "pet rock"! But a cute pet rock at least!
this was so sweet. He fell asleep holding my finger up to his cheek! Dan was giving him a lesson on changing brake pads! He likes spending time in the garage with daddy (well, by that I mean he likes taking a nap in the garage)! The first time we put him in his car seat he was lost in it. Now his head reaches the top of the cushion! He's growing so fast!
This is his 1month picture. I accidentally downloaded the wrong one. But I am not "blogger savvy" enough to know how to delete it without deleing the entire post!
Each month we are going to picture him next to his lion!
2 comments:
Oh, love the pictures! He is so cute.
Don't feel bad about giving up on the nursing at all - you do what you have to do for your baby! And there are advantages to just doing formula - it's alot easier to go places and give the baby a bottle without having to worry about pumping to keep up your supply. I've considered switching to formula, just because it's so hard to plan outings around feedings/pumpings!
I think if you switch to the "compose" view when typing up your post, you can see the pictures and delete or move them easier . . .
Oh how I understand the lack of sleep thing. I too need sleep...I never got use to it. To this day if possible and necessary, I sleep when the baby sleeps. Hudson is better than Noah so far.Noah didn't sleep thru the night till he was 2. He still hates to sleep. Hudson is much better. I'm only up once maybe twice. I can live with that. hang in there. IT's all worth it.
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